Opinion

Living in a state where three out of 10 of our high school students fail to graduate, it makes sense to celebrate and honor every child that can don a mortarboard and accept a diploma. We are proud of all that made the commitment to graduate: students, teachers, parents.
Yet, in a world that is shrinking so quickly that Kentucky children compete with children in China to grow-up to have a good-paying job and a home of their own, is it enough to celebrate graduation without recognizing those who did more to earn their diplomas?

The accomplishment of a group of volunteers working mostly under their own power and imagination can be an inspiring thing.

Thus we are duly impressed by the work of Jerry Miller, Uley Washington, Hobie Henninger and a host of other volunteers who have helped create an elegant memorial to the 22 African-American cavalry officers who were ambushed and died just west of Simpsonville in 1865.

We have followed with interest these past few weeks as a group of downtown-area property owners in Shelbyville have joined forces in the oldest and most common goal that many of us ever seek to undertake: fighting city hall.

You may have read recently about a bold new policy decision rendered in Bullitt County.
Bullitt’s Board of Health voted to make all publicly accessed facilities in the county – including some parks and outdoor areas – smoke free.
We find this an intriguing step in the debate between smokers’ rights and the greater good of public health. Their concept also is far more wide-ranging and stringent than policies passed by legislative bodies across Kentucky.

The preliminary approval of state incentives announced Thursday for Ficosa North America is the latest in a surge of terrific economic news for Shelby County.
Following announced plans at Martinrea Heavy Stamping, Katayama and Shelby Industries, we are now up to four the number of companies that will be adding jobs in the coming years.

Could someone please explain to me what is going on in this country? America has got it backwards. It is not the people who offer only their opinion and sit behind a desk and make decisions that make this country great. It is the people who have produced everything you see and use that make this country great.

The graduating class of Collins High School learned this week that all graduates will be seated in alphabetical order, breaking the longstanding Shelby County tradition of honoring the top-ranked graduates by seating them on the front rows at graduation. I am writing to lament the way our schools have watered down the recognition of students who excel in academics.

We are starting to wonder if there are any cells available in our state prisons, because we are becoming increasingly alarmed at high-profile crimes that are going unpunished by incarceration.
This is said neither to renew our shock at the meager wrist slapping given to admitted office thief Jody Wills nor to condemn any particular judge for his or her rulings.
But rather this is a focus on the crime-and-punishment system, because there are examples it’s not working like we would expect it to work.

No matter which colors dominate your wardrobe or tint your vision of the sports world, surely you can embrace the success stories that our state generated on the basketball court this past weekend.
Chatter is everywhere, of course, about the University of Kentucky’s first return to the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four since the Clinton Administration. The Wildcats’ run has been remarkable and somewhat unexpected by anyone other than the deepest blue fans.

By now you have read the description of the new statistical face of Shelby County as drawn by the 2010 census. We doubt you were surprised any more than we were about what this analysis discerned about our community.
To understand that Shelby County has seen burgeoning growth in the past decade – 38 percent more residents than in 2000 – doesn’t require a degree in statistics or even a detailed market analysis.
We’ve seen the growth just by driving around our communities.

Last Thursday afternoon, when everyone from Fulton to Flatwoods was mesmerized with the bouncing of a basketball in one place or another, there were two people I know who did their best to avoid that madness that tends to grip us in March.
That would be my wife and me.
Yes, on Thursday, the geniuses who program the NCAA Tournament chose to have the University of Louisville play Morehead State at 1:45 p.m. and Kentucky to square off with Princeton about 45 minutes later.

Ms. Zion’s letter (“Sen. Paul’s view on education,” letters, March 16) about Sen. Paul’s view of the Department of Education illustrates what has gone wrong with government in this country.
Most people recognize that government has grown too large, over reached its constitutional authority and spent too much money. Yet a segment of our population still seems to believe that government is the answer to any and all problems.
Those people criticize anyone who take a stand to change the current state of government.

Normally, we might congratulate the Shelby County Board of Education for finding a way to end the school year on time.

That’s a goal every year, of course, but the annual recesses required by Mother Nature sometimes cause disruption, for which students – and their families – pay by attending classes, it seems, until Flag Day becomes part of the curriculum.

Today’s the day when we’re supposed to mourn the NCAA Basketball Tournament, aka Big East Invitational, and its myopically developed field and obtusely seeded brackets (for UK fans).

And that would have been a worthy thing to do, to suggest that only the winners from last week’s conference tournaments should move forward, thus removing all the decision-making and golden parachutes for failing teams. Those points have merit.

We think it’s a really good idea that our government operates each year with a balanced budget. And we couldn’t agree more with our leaders who suggest that.

But, those points made, the requirement to balance the federal budget is not, as some lawmakers are suggesting, a Constitutional issue.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul was in Frankfort recently touting the idea of going through the laborious and – yes – costly process of amending the U.S. Constitution, perhaps requiring a constitutional convention, to impel lawmakers to do their jobs.

We were very pleased last week to see that Shelby County Fiscal Court had approved its piece of the financial pie needed to study the plan for the downtown City Center.

We had been pushing for months for magistrates to contribute the remaining $12,500 – the other partners, the City of Shelbyville, the Shelby County School Board and the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative, did so months ago – and we are relieved that this is completed.

Maybe it’s a statement about complacency, laziness or just a bit of “the-sky-is-falling” syndrome – literally – that I didn’t leap to the computer or TV Monday morning when it felt like the side of my house was going to be sent blasting into Franklin County.

Many of you were awake, alert and ever vigilant to your family’s safety, but all I did was lie there and hope that the siding would stay put and wonder if the dripping I heard was from the ceiling and not the gutter (neither happened).